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Page added on February 4, 2020
While The Press And Public Focus On Iran, US Military Prepares For War With Russia
During the height of tensions with Iran last year, the United States conducted an unprecedented series of war games. Over five months, from May until the end of September, 93 separate military exercises were held, with forces operating continuously in, above and around 29 countries.
The games, which practiced everything from ground platoon tactics to cyber warfare, weren’t held in the Mideast and weren’t directed at Tehran. They were directed against Moscow—and constituted the most intense uninterrupted set of drills since the end of the Cold War.
The activity was the culmination of a buildup that began after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Though American armed forces were fighting several “hot wars” and engaged in crisis deployments in response to both Iran and North Korea, the shift to practicing “high end” warfare tasks dominated. The focus was also undeniably anti-Russia,with the number of European games ten times the number of China-related drills held at the same time.
“In the shadow of the deteriorating European security environment, the size and scope of NATO and Russian military exercises have increased significantly—even dramatically,” a NATO parliamentary committee reported in October. The committee worried that NATO doesn’t possess sufficient ground troops in Eastern Europe to deter Russian inference or attack. It also pointed to Moscow’s own high-profile war games, many involving scenarios that include the use of nuclear weapons in a European war.
While the conventional view is one of Russian advantage, the new figures show that the United States and its European partners far outstrip Moscow. These “persistent heel-to-toe” operations, as the military calls them, where one exercise begins as another ends, emphasize rapid aircraft deployments and dispersal to forward bases. Much of the emphasis last year was on fighter aircraft and bomber scatterings, showcasing Western geographic advantages while also demonstrating combined air operations refined in two decades of Middle East fighting.
These operations and exercises, then-NATO Commander Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti told Congress last Spring, were meant to “introduce operational unpredictability to our adversaries.” The question is: at what cost? That is, are we provoking the very thing NATO hopes to avoid—a new Cold War? Or more concretely, in putting the two sides on a path where escalating military exercises and the intermingling of forces increases tensions while also providing more and more opportunities for miscalculation.
‘100,000 Tons of International Diplomacy’
From the day former national security advisor John Bolton stepped to the microphone last May to announce that B-52 bombers and the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln were being rushed to the Middle East because of “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” coming from Iran, Europe was already on pace to break all records regarding military activity.
The Lincoln was in the Mediterranean Sea and was operating with the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, the first time two carrier strike groups had conducted dual operations in the Trump administration. On the day of Bolton’s announcement, Lincoln-based F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters flew 700-mile bombing runs to targets in Romania. The next day, Super Hornets flew again, this time 1,000-mile missions from the Ionian Sea west of Greece and traversing Eastern Europe to Lithuania.
There, the Navy strike fighters worked with ground spotters to practice bombing, less than 500 miles from Moscow. “We are showing the world that we … are prepared and capable of executing missions in our allies’ airspace on short notice,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Gay, coordinator of the exercise.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon M. Huntsman Jr. was on the Lincoln during the operation. “Each of the carriers operating in the Mediterranean at this time represent 100,000 tons of international diplomacy,” the former Utah Governor said.
Finished with its mock bombing of Russia, the Lincoln canceled a scheduled port call in Croatia and set sail for the Persian Gulf. By the time it steamed south through the Suez Canal and around the Arabian Peninsula to take up station off the Iranian coast, no fewer than seven separate NATO war games were held: Arrow and Bold Quest in Finland, Spring Storm in Estonia, Formidable Shield off the coast of Scotland, Immediate Response in Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia, Stolen Cerberus VI in Greece, and Erciyes in Turkey. And in those two weeks, a dozen Florida-based F-16C fighters arrived in the United Kingdom and the newest F-35 Lightning II jets deployed from Utah to Northern Italy, the latter for the first time.
No European deployments were canceled or delayed because of Iran, according to a senior European Command official who was not authorized to speak on the record. And not only were U.S. aircraft operating close to Russian airspace. Starting in May, the air forces of nine different NATO nations deployed to forward bases in the Baltic states, Poland and Romania on “air policing” missions.
The exercises and deployments were taking place under an umbrella Pentagon program called the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI). Started after the Crimea crisis, EDI has built up a NATO ground presence in the three Baltic states and Poland, enhanced the air defense of the Baltics, southeastern Europe and Iceland, and accelerated air deployments from the United States under both “bomber assurance” and “theater security” programs.
Last March, the Trump administration requested $5.9 billion to fund EDI, a 10 percent reduction from the previous year—which some observers saw as a sign of Donald Trump’s personal softness on Russia. Calling the Russian threat to Europe “real and growing,” Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the outgoing top officer for NATO, told Congress that he was “not comfortable yet with the deterrent posture” on the continent.
“We’re looking at increased burden-sharing,” Pentagon Deputy Comptroller Elaine A. McCusker told reporters, echoing the president’s many statements that the rich European nations should contribute more towards their defense, lessening the American bill.
But the fine print showed that there was no real reduction. The cut was actually the result of completed construction and other “nonrecurring” costs that stabilized EDI at a steady level. And the amount dedicated to exercises and training more than doubled from the previous year, from $291 million to $609 million.
On December 4, after a marathon eight months in the Middle East, the USS Abraham Lincoln transited the Strait of Hormuz to return home. The Iran crisis was still brewing and would further escalate with the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani a month later. The crisis deployments Bolton had announced included a total of six bombers in two groups, both of which had come and gone. A battalion-sized Marine Corps force had also left the region. Emergency ground deployments totaled fewer than 10,000 troops, the majority in Patriot anti-air and missile defense units. Air Force aircraft had augmented the Lincoln’s air wing on the scene. Three squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagles, F-35A Lightning IIs, and F-22 Raptors, constituted the totality of the anti-Iran movements.
During the same time, nine American squadrons of fighter aircraft deployed to Europe for anti-Russian war games, according to Pentagon documents. During the third week in June, when Iran shot down an American drone, exercise Anatolian Eagle was in full swing in Konya, Turkey. Though Turkey abuts Iran, the exercise, funded by the European Defense Initiative, had a wholly NATO European focus.
As two oil tankers were hit with limpet mines in the Persian Gulf, special operators from ten nations were skulking about as a part of exercise Trojan Footprint 19, one that took place across Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and in the Black Sea. In northern waters, Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) brought together 50 ships and 40 aircraft of 18 NATO nations, plus Sweden and Finland. A total of seven NATO war games were underway, including Iron Wolf in Lithuania; Dragon 19 in Poland; Swift response in Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania; and Strike Back and Saber Guardian in Bulgaria.
Overall, more than 50,000 NATO and allied military personnel were in action against Russia. U.S. Air Force F-35 fighters deployed to both Finland and Norway for the first time. Joining them were Louisiana-based B-52 bombers that had forward deployed to England and flew mock bombing runs against Russia simultaneously over the Baltic and Black Sea regions.
Heel to toe, exercise Dynamic Mongoose commenced in Norwegian Arctic waters with the completion of BALTOPS. Exercise Sea Breeze also got underway in the Black Sea to augment Dynamic Mongoose. While Ukraine was on everyone’s lips in Washington because of House impeachment hearings, a total of 32 ships and 24 aircraft from 19 countries were operating in and around that Black Sea nation.
None of this took place without a Russian response. The very week of Bolton’s Iran announcement, a Hungarian fighter operating in Lithuania intercepted a Russian Federation Air Force plane flying without a transponder signal. Russian sent its own bombers to fly along the western coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. At the end of May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow was concerned about NATO’s increased activities near its borders.
Russian news agency TASS reported that the number of Russian air intercepts had increased ten times over the past three years. Meanwhile, NATO scrambles had increased 300 percent, according to classified U.S. Air Force documents. When a Russian Su-24 Fencer fighter-bomber dangerously buzzed a Spanish Navy ship operating in the Baltic, NATO issued a vigorous protest.
As the May exercise season started, Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters took over command of NATO from Gen. Scaparrotti. One of his first orders of business was to sit down with the Russian Chief of General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov to discuss “deconfliction” of military activity. Wolters told reporters just days before the Spanish incident that American “deterrence” activity had tempered Russian behavior, that there had been a reduction in Russian “unprofessional behavior.
The two generals met again in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on July 10th for what were more sobering talks, according to military officers who were privy to the discussions. That same day, the Ukrainian Navy reported that a Russian destroyer intruded into the Sea Breeze restricted area during live-fire artillery drills, creating “an emergency situation.” When NATO radioed the destroyer with a warning, according to a Ukrainian Navy’s statement, the Russian ship “pretended to be experiencing communications problems.” Russia’s Black Sea fleet said Ukrainian claims were untrue. The Cold War was back.
35 Comments on "While The Press And Public Focus On Iran, US Military Prepares For War With Russia"
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 10:50 am
This is great news! Just like everyone else waiting for the end of the American Empire, I want the US military to keep wasting resources the USA can’t afford in foreign bases, useless weapons, and military exercises. The USA is heading towards the most catastrophic economic, financial, monetary, medical, social, political, and diplomatic crises that any society has ever experienced. The rest of humanity is waiting, with the certainty that it is only a matter of time. We are talking years now, no longer decades.
Duncan Idaho on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 11:18 am
“The Great Divider knows how to pit native-born Americans against immigrants, the working class against the poor, whites against blacks and Latinos, evangelicals against secularists, keeping almost everyone stirred up by vilifying, disparaging, denouncing, defaming and accusing others of the worst. Trump thrives off disruption and division.”
The Orange Idiot does know how!
Duncan Idaho on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 11:34 am
“Right and wrong are school kid concepts, the GOP doesn’t want to be bothered with them, they just want to win, no matter what the cost. Power is more important than democracy to these people. If you don’t get that, you don’t understand what is going on with today’s GOP. “
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 11:59 am
This is great news! I am back on my meds and I am going to try very hard to be normal from here on out
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 12:39 pm
TRUMP2020!
Trump Approval Rating Hits All-Time High Amid Impeachment; GOP Sees Upswing In Support
President Trump’s approval rating is the highest it’s ever been, coming in at 49% in a new Gallup poll, which also found that 63% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the economy. Trump’s ratings for handling foreign affairs and foreign trade also topped out at 47% and 50% respectively, his best numbers to date.
More Lunatic Davy ID Fraud on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 1:37 pm
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 11:59 am
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 12:39 pm
Anonymouse on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 2:40 pm
The idea that uS farces have gained valuable battlefield experience while occupying Iraq and attempting to overthrow the Syrian Government, is laughable. At least, that is what jewseek seems to be implying. The only experience the uS mil has gained, is how to ignore its own traumatized, PTSD suffering veterans. And how to gun down and shell mostly defenseless woman, children and old men, usually from long distances or great heights.
The uS farces in the ME have not faced anything like an opponent on equal terms. This is not to downplay the abilities of those in the ME resisting uS aggression. The uS only picks on opponents it (believes) it can win against. How’d that work in Korea and Vietnam btw? Russia has no desire to go to war, not even with amerika despite its endless provocations, insults, and covert and overt attacks on her people. They certainly have no desire to war with their fellow Europeans, wanting only good relations and economic development. What possible quarrel, could fooking SPAIN of all people, have with Russia? Why would they ever send a warship to the Baltic of all places, if not being egged on or compelled to by the amerijew empire and its cabal of war-mongering elites. No reason whatsoever. No sane one anyhow.
An empire of dumbasses. Cant collapse fast enough.
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 3:11 pm
Boy, anon, you have anger issues
Anonymouse on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 3:19 pm
Boy, davyturd, you have mental-health issues.
And you are confused af to boot. You’re name, is demented DAVY, not, ‘JuanP’. The only one you are fooling, and making a fool of, is yourself.
More Lunatic Davy ID Fraud on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 3:20 pm
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 3:11 pm
JuanP is a liar on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 4:48 pm
More Lunatic Davy ID Fraud
makati1 on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 5:20 pm
Anon, we are on the same page. It’s time the US and Israel go down. Both are eternal losers. Both want to dominate the world but are ‘has beens’ chasing some religious dream of Armageddon and paradise which may just kill us all.
Yes, I too think it is a matter of years, not decades. When we get to 2030, we will be living in a totally different world, IF there is one left. The US will be a destitute, 3rd world country, living on its 4% share of the world’s resources, or less, not 25+%. It should be interesting. I plan to watch the decline and reset from here. I will only be 85, shooting for 100! ^_^
makati1 on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 5:21 pm
Waiting for the inevitable Davy attempted putdown in one, two, three….
Davy on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 5:32 pm
makato you got a good bruising yesterday. LOL. Your lies were well moderated. Are you back for some more, dumbass? Annoy is not much help and your lunatic juanPee is very depressed. I showed cloggo the door earlier. He is gone until late February.
More from the Lunatic on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 5:35 pm
Davy on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 5:32 pm
JuanP is a liar on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 4:48 pm
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 5:37 pm
I am so very depressed I can’t comment today
makati1 on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 5:56 pm
Davy, your delusions are getting worse. I didn’t notice any shit coming out of your key board. It must all be in your warped mind.
I know there are free mental clinics in Missouri. I have posted them here many times for you but you ignore them like you ignore all reality. Must be lonely there in Davyland. LOL
Davy on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 6:01 pm
makato translation:
“I am very very upset that I can’t control the subject matter so I attack Davy. What else can I do I can’t debate him or I lose.”
makati1 on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 6:04 pm
A real war with Russia would last one day and there would be no US left, just radioactive debris. The Russian antimissile systems work. The US junk doesn’t. That has been proved in the ME.
All of the US carriers would be sunk the first hour. Even the men in the US Navy knows that, at the first sign of a war with Russia, the US carriers would head for safety, but there is no where in the world they can hide.
I could give refs but few here would bother to read them. The US is nothing but hot air and bullshit, soon to go down in flames as its economy tanks and the Great Leveling takes it to the 3rd world. San Fran the new Bangladesh? We shall see.
Davy on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 6:18 pm
makato, tell us about the 2MIL men you said were under arms in NK! That shows you don’t know shit about military matters. The reality is neither the US or Russia can afford a war but you are too stupid to understand that. It feels so much better to be mean and nasty sounding instead of rational. What a joke!
More from the Lunatic on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 7:17 pm
Davy on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 6:18 pm
JuanP on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 5:37 pm
Anonymouse on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 7:17 pm
Shut up davytard. You wear your ignorance and arrogance as if they are badges of accomplishment, or honor or…. something. And you do this on a daily basis, without fail. 16/20 hours, 7 days a week, 365. The joke is, and is on, you. Dumbass.
Go away now.
Be sure to reply as one of your many sock puppets. Or one of your numerous dysfunctional ‘personalities’. Less taxing on your pea-brain than trying to remember your actual name. Or better yet, dont say anything at all, for once.
makati1 on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 7:34 pm
Anon, D.Davy has zero memory without his antique smart phone, which is actually more intelligent than he is by far. But then, those redneck hillbillies aren’t known for their intelligence. I picture him laying in his shack with one arm around his nanny goat and the other clutching a jug of moonshine. LOL
Anonymouse on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 8:59 pm
And I bet you his jug(s) of moonshine have the traditional XXX label on it. I think we can tell what days when he is hitting the shine harder than usual. He gets all cranky and belligerent, more than normal. Kind of like today. He is both angry, and stupid, which again, is not unusual as such but, dialed up to 11.
https://www.istockphoto.com/ca/photo/moonshine-in-wooden-crate-gm583799118-99895829
world supremacist muzzies bag day feb1 2021 on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 10:54 pm
Anonymouse on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 2:40 pm
The idea that US farces have gained valuable battlefield experience while occupying Iraq and attempting to overthrow the Syrian Government, is laughable. At least, that is what jewseek seems to be implying. The o
supertard, muzis been fighting for 1400 years so i’d say they gained valuable battlefiedl exerperence. similarly, the US do too.
btw, look like uk is rounding up muzzies for amputation post brexit, congrats britain first
srs muzzies are profitable on Tue, 4th Feb 2020 11:02 pm
man i wish i have these muzzies for $1 each for amputation
https://preview.tinyurl.com/vprl83r
supremacist muzzies bag day feb1 2021 on Wed, 5th Feb 2020 12:17 am
whitey supertard trump said our military the strongest? that’s lie right there
our navy suffered losses of two top commanders who were experts at burying muzzies at sea according to muzzie custom but it’s not a muzzie
head spun
our navy is so weak it can’t do muzize burial at sea according to muzie custom but it’s not a muzzie
head spun
lies
world supremacist muzzies bag day feb1 2021 on Wed, 5th Feb 2020 12:43 am
2.2 trillion dollar in 1mil toilet seats
lies
this whitey supertard trump singlehandedly destroyed our navy. now we can bury muzies at sea according to muzzie custom but it’s not a muzzie
head spun
we need to destroy the military welfare industrial complex. cut all funding until the navy gets it act together. rehire two top navy commanders who are expert at muzzie burial at sea according to muzzie custom but it’s not a muzzie
head spun
bring them back bring them back
makati1 on Wed, 5th Feb 2020 1:42 am
Perfect pic, Anon! ^_^
Antius on Wed, 5th Feb 2020 8:14 am
Having been largely absent from this board for months until last week, I see that the Davy freak show continues to account for most of the comments. The moron talks a lot but says virtually nothing.
dissident on Wed, 5th Feb 2020 5:45 pm
The US can prepare for war on Russia all it wants. But just like the Teutonic Knights, Napoleon and Hitler it is not going to win it.
Some advice for arrogant, self-anointed exceptional human Yankees: stay out of Russia and that includes Belorus and Ukraine. Meddle some more in Mexico. Perhaps you can do something worthwhile like destroying the drug gangs that have turned Mexico into a nightmare.
makati1 on Wed, 5th Feb 2020 6:33 pm
dissident, Mexico supplies the drugs that the CIA wants to import to Amerika. If the “War on Drugs” was real, the US would not be drowning in drug deaths, which are growing exponentially. About 70,000 last year alone.
“The War on Drugs began in June 1971 when U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon declared drug abuse to be “public enemy number one” and increased federal funding for drug-control agencies and drug-treatment efforts.”
“Since 1971, the war on drugs has cost the United States an estimated $1 trillion. In 2015, the federal government spent an estimated $9.2 million every day to incarcerate people charged with drug-related offenses—that’s more than $3.3 billion annually.Jun 27, 2018”
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=US+war+on+drugs+dates
Since 1971, millions of Amerikans have died of a drug overdose and the number is growing exponentially.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190221083419.htm
The Philippines knows how to fight drugs…but if you try to get any real facts, you get USMSM propaganda against their drug war. It is not profitable to end illegal drugs. The CIA is supporting the trade to fund their illegal activities around the world. Illegal drugs is just another “Opium War” against the Amerikan serfs. It could be ended if the US really wanted to. Think Afghanistan…
JuanP on Wed, 5th Feb 2020 6:41 pm
The Philippines knows how to fight drugs you say Mak? Duerte is a thug and you like him. That says so much about you.
makati1 on Wed, 5th Feb 2020 6:55 pm
Davy, give it up. You are a born loser!
Abraham van Helsing on Thu, 6th Feb 2020 7:08 am
“While The Press And Public Focus On Iran, US Military Prepares For War With Russia”
Deep state magazine Jewsweek tries to sick Europe against Russia, with the US “leading from behind”. Futile attempt.
Next week they will fantasize how Donnie “is owned by Vlad”.
Newsweek is irrelevant since the very successful campaign by DJT against the (((globalist))) media:
https://documents1940.wordpress.com/2018/06/28/us-media-in-a-single-glance/